Tipple & Brine is the work of Richard DiSisto, a restaurateur who is also vice president of the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce. DiSisto has said that he opened Tipple & Brine in part to restore Sherman Oaks’ reputation, to draw people there as a destination. As such, the restaurant is crowded with as many trendy touchstones as you could possibly cram into a concept: a serious cocktail program and a secret upstairs bar, local and sustainable menu items, servers oozing cool as if it’s their job, a wood interior lit by dangling filament bulbs. Stylish but rugged, the place might be the swank/rustic galley of a yuppie pirate ship.